Our Journeys

Medical Professionals

Click the linked names to read the full Journeys

Chris Archer-Chicko, MSN, CRNPI started the UPHS Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group in 2008 because I wanted another setting to educate patients and their families about PH and how to live with this difficult disease.

Dr. Murali ChakinalaI became acquainted with PH in the late 1990s, during my training to become a lung transplant physician at Washington University. At the time, only epoprostenol (FlolanTM) was approved, and patients were typically listed for transplant soon after diagnosis.

Jessica Lazar, PAEleven years ago I began working on the Cardiology Inpatient floors at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where I met Dr. Srinivas Murali. Heart failure and PH patients were my favorite population to work with; I fell in love with these patients.

Dr. Michael MathierWhen I went into cardiology, I became interested in congestive heart failure, specifically the mechanics of the heart: WHY it weakens and what we can do to either treat or prevent it from weakening. As I learned more, I became more interested in the right heart in part because it remains less studied.

Dr. John NewmanI became interested in PH when I was a medical resident in 1972 and had a patient with PPH, as it was called then. The disease was so rare and poorly understood that everyone spoke about it in hushed tones, especially because there was no treatment.

Dr. Myung ParkMy interest in PH started during my residency. This was at a time when we were just learning about PH, including the use of calcium channel blockers. I saw many patients, usually young women, suffering from this devastating illness when there were no PAH-specific treatments.

Glenna Traiger, RN, MSNI was the Cardiovascular Clinical Nurse Specialist at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles when Dr. Shelley Shapiro came to USC to start the PH program there. I was looking for new challenges, and she needed help with that program, so we found each other.

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